The new apartment development is back- to-back with the Wolcott Village condos (combined, there are 300 units directly adjacent to the grocer, fitness club, Sears Auto and re-built Metra station). Per square foot this may be the highest density residential spot in Lincoln Square... and that's great.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

1807 N Natchez is a fun, attractive brick bungalow in the Galewood section of Chicago's Austin Community Area near Oak Park. For rent at $1,550 /month available July 1st, 2014.

We just listed a classic brick bungalow on a terrific block at 1807 N Natchez FOR RENT at $1,550 a month. Very pleasant home with a touch of whimsy!

Awesome backyard for summer fun! 2 car garage!

1870 N Natchez has a 170 plus foot lot with a great backyard! All three bedrooms are on the main level. Home features entry foyer, large living room, spacious dining room and kitchen with dishwasher.*Central air conditioning and heat!* Huge basement for storage/ play / craft space with newer washer and dryer. Stairs lead to attic (empty and unused, but space there if needed).

School info from the owners:
Grace Lutheran School in River Forest runs a bus there and St. Giles
Catholic School serves Galewood and is walking distance. There are kids
on the block that go to both. Lovett is the CPS school for 1807 N Natchez and
OA Thorp is a close magnet school. UNO Clemente Elementary is a few
blocks North on Natchez.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

1251 W Fletcher closed last week for $526,000 after multiple offers. Watch the video and check out the great outdoor space. The home is also located in popular Burley Elementary School district boundaries.

We represented our long time clients in the sale of their townhouse last week. We decided on a list price of $499,000 to generate serious, motivated buyers. The pricing and listing preparation worked well as we received several well qualified buyers offering over the list price.

Our clients originally bought the home in April 2010 for $485,000 after we arranged the first showing prior to the town house being re-listed on the market. I remember we went to the February showing in a snow storm!

20x20 deck!

Congratulations to the new owners who closed just in time to enjoy their deck on Memorial Day weekend. And congratulations to our sellers who are now in far off lands.

West Briar Street near the lake has a few rare and beautiful East Lakeview single family homes. Photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

We met with our contractor at a new client's home this weekend on the 400 block of West Briar in East Lakeview. We'll have more details on the top floor 2300 sq/ft condo this week. The 400 and 500 blocks of West Briar offer a leafy sanctuary just off the hustle and bustle of North Broadway.

Saturday was a break-out beautiful day in the city and North Broadway was hopping!

Friday, May 23, 2014

I took this photo of 423 Glendale in Hinsdale at the final walk-through last week. The traditional, move-in ready home on a large semi-wooded lot was asking $699,000. Photo Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

Bob and I represented great clients last week on their Hinsdale home purchase. It's hard not to get tempted when looking at attractive homes and lots in the desirable suburbs around Chicago. The huge backyard and driveway allow for any kind of sport or party.

If you are moving from the city please consider our team for your sale and purchase.

Rocking chair views from the extended front porch. Congratulations on your new home!

Progress at Ravenswood Terrace new construction apartments early this week. The 150 unit development is located adjacent to the Mariano's, Sears and LA Fitness development at West Lawrence and North Ravenswood in greater Ravenswood, Lincoln Square. All Photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

It's a nice location if you like fancy uber-service grocery stores and working out. Emergency car issue? Got that covered too with a brand new Sears Auto Center facility.

The "befores" taken a month back.

You can visit the Raveswood Terrace apartments site here. WARNING: The "Who Ravenswoodn't" tag line and photo may cause some sort of visceral reaction. There are a couple MLS listings for two bedrooms, two baths units for $2,300 - $2,450 range a month. Parking is listed at $175.00 a month extra.

The pharmacy and clinic areas have been removed. In it's place is an expanded meat department.

There are dozens of new display tables everywhere. The food selection looks more diverse than the old Dominick's and the prices look in line or a little better on our most of our staple products. I was happy to see really great tomatoes for $0.99 a pound. The meat department is fantastic! It's easy to walk over and pick out quality selections for grilling on a nice day.

There are display tables everywhere.

Many Tony's family members and execs were on hand to greet customers. Although I'm not a fan of the new color palate and general look for the store you can tell these guys are here to do business. They maintained the coffee bar area in the front of the store with added gelato and (I think) smoothie drinks. All the specialty counters (deli, meats, fish) look great.

Bottom line is the store re-delivers a much needed full service grocer to residents of Lincoln Square,North Park and West Ridge neighborhoods. We congratulate the Tony's family on their new store and look forward to shopping there for a long time!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Our latest Ravenswood listing at 4957 N Seeley #2 is under contract and awaiting closing asking $149,000. Watch the video tour of this attractive condo in a terrific location.

The Winnemac Park area of Ravenswood is booming with new houses, new condos and rising re-sale prices. The many, many infrastructure and retail improvements coupled with the already pleasant park-like neighborhood have made inexpensive condos a hot item.

Very cool kitchen renovation! Photo by photolightchicago.com

Ravenswood is great area to live without a car and one of the best quality of life values in the city! If you are looking to buy or sell in Ravenswood or nearby North Side neighborhoods we're your guys!

I've noted a few "Red X" houses in the Lincoln Square, Ravenswood neighborhood. A long time vacant house with the scarlet letter on the 4800 block of north Oakley was torn down earlier today. You can see a photo of the house HERE.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Step out on to your main level terrace off the living room to a terrific city view overlooking East Lakeview. (Photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty)

622 W Oakdale #5is in a wide newer construction building with rare outdoor space. The main level front terrace overlooks the Lakeview neighborhood.

Large condo units have been in demand in East Lakeview. Large condo units with great outdoor spaces are even better. Our listing at 622 W Oakdale #5 received interest and a contract immediately asking $689,000. The contract is through inspections and pending closing.

A hall staircase leads to the private roof top deck area.

The home features three outdoor spaces. A front terrace off the living room, a back deck off the master bedroom and a private 20'x20' private rooftop deck area. Add commercial appliances, upgraded sound, custom storage and attached garage for luxury living in one of the city's most vibrant and convenient neighborhoods along the lake.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The large industrial property at 2050 W Balmoral in Bowmanville (old Duray Fluorescent Lighting company at Balmoral and Hoyne) will be the second and larger home of Half Acre Beer Company. ALL photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

Founder Gabriel Magliaro waits to present the "two phase" plan. The current zoning for "Phase I" allows for a brewing facility, restaurant, and an outdoor beer garden in the courtyard. That will happen. A second phase would require a zoning change to allow for more retail and restaurant space along with a tavern license. This will have to be approved.

From the Bomanville Community Organization:"The plans include a brewing facility, restaurant, and an outdoor beer garden in the courtyard. All of this is allowed under the current M1/M2 zoning.

Half Acre is pursuing a zoning change to C3 however, to enable them to
increase the amount of space used for retail onsite. They will also be
pursuing a tavern license. The zoning change request and tavern license
request will follow city processes. "In short, the community was supportive. At times, overwhelmingly and comically supportive! Most of the concerns were with, 1)truck traffic (which will be light compared to many types of business that can operate there) and 2) increased foot traffic near the residential homes. Most agreed the people coming to (and involved with) the brewery will make the area much more appealing and safer than the current state: a vacant building across from a sometimes troubled nursing facility.

The interior of the facility would be an "inspiring space" with the original double barrel truss ceiling restored.

The fully completed site would include a larger capacity brewing facility, canning production, a tap room serving food, new home office and an outdoor patio area carved out of the parking lot. The tavern and food serving area would be designed upon approval of the license and zoning change. Brewing production should be up and running by October.

Outdoor patio located in what's now the interior courtyard/ parking lot. A good 45-55 parking spaces would remain.

The office staff would be relocated to the new facility.

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Site plan

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The North Hoyne side of the building will be beautified... yay!

The town home association along Hoyne facing the facility has a lot to gain along with some concerns with the popular brewer moving in.

The parking lot/ courtyard of the building is along West Rascher and faces other industry buildings like Medina Lawn Care. The new facility will use a Rascher address and people will enter/ exit on Rasher away from residential homes.

Loading docs on the 2000 Block of West Balmoral. There are a handful of residential buildings across from the Balmoral side of the building (below)

A terrific crowd of mostly immediate Bowmanville residents and Bomanville Community Organization members. The neighbors were very cordial, thoughtful and asked some great questions. Photo Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

Here's an update photo of the house construction at 25 East Cedar I took from last week. Although the demolition of the site was in 2011, there is still much work to do. The home next door to the west at 21 East Cedar is listed for sale at $5,000,000.

Monday, May 12, 2014

I swung over to the Ainslie and Bell intersection in Lincoln Square after school drop-offto check out the progress on this house. I believe it's the only new construction home being built at the moment within Lawrence and Foster, Ashland and Western. There are a handful of substantial gut rehabs in progress but nothing else totally new.

The crew was just "raising the barn" when I walked up. Jolly good show.

TheGold Coast is a unique treasure of a neighborhood not only in Chicago but nation wide (in my opinion). Views, architecture, upscale retail, dining, iconic bars, beaches and people watching all tucked into a bustling lakefront location is worth the purchase price. Or... at least worth a visit from current Chicagoans and tourists.

Gold Coast Single Family Home Sales 2014 (including row houses)

7 Gold Coast single family homes have closed in 2014. This is a pretty good number of transactions for the relatively small number of available homes in the neighborhood.

The highest sale just closed in May for $5,875,000 at coveted 1207 N Astor Street (asking price). The classic estate on a 27 wide lot was bought in 2010 for $3,750,00 and has been fully renovated.

The lowest single family dwelling sale this year in Gold Coast is 1234 N State Street for $1,750,000. The surprisingly spacious "1886" row house was advertised as needing updates and modernization.

For sale and under contract
A surprisingly large number of Gold Coast single family home dwellings are offered for sale. 27 homes are currently marketed for sale from $1,699,000 to $15,000,000. Yes, 15 million. Only four offerings are priced under $2 million.

The hot Chicago single family home market on the North Side and retiring Baby Boomer generation may have a lot to do with the good number of Gold Coast listings.

Yet, only two homes are currently under contract. 59 West Schiller is under contract listed at $2,800,000 and 43 E Division is under contract listed at $4,500,000.

All stats gathered from MREDLLC.com and interpreted by Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

A second story addition on a modern home tucked along North Ravenswood. The former industrial building is just two blocks north of the Ravenswood Metra stop.

Large anchor retail at Mariano's and LA Fitness

The four blocks along North Ravenswood Avenue between West Lawrence Ave and West Foster Ave is a cool mix of residential and business. The stretch is along the Metra embankment which further defines the unique setting.

These interesting industrial and residential corridors make up a "very city" lifestyle.

Sold! North Center Land for Sale: Coonley School District $190,000

Real Estate Broker and Author of this Blog

I am a Chicago real estate broker who began writing this blog in 2005. My group represents clients buying, selling and renting properties. I've been awarded Top 5% in sales volume for Chicago Association of Realtors every year from 2006-2015. Thanks for reading and working with us!
All posts and photos are by Eric Rojas and Bob DePalma unless otherwise noted. Contact us at erojas@kalerealty.com for great service!